Big Sleepout in waterfront to help homeless

HUNDREDS of people are expected to take part when Dundee joins the Big Sleepout campaign to end homelessness, later this year.

The Sleep In The Park event in Slessor Gardens will take place at the same time as other sleepouts in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

Organised by Edinburghbased charity Social Bite, The Big Sleepout is part of a campaign to end homelessness in Scotland.

Nearly 9,000 people took part in last year’s event in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens, raising more than £3.6 million for the homeless in the process.

This year’s sleepouts will see Scottish singers KT Tu n s t a l l and Amy Macdonald travel by helicopter to perform at each of the four host cities.

Author Irvine Welsh will also write a bedtime story that he will perform i n Edinburgh and which will be broadcast to the other three cities.

Per th-born comedian Fred MacAulay will host the event and a “surprise” keynote speaker is also promised.

Last year Liam Gallagher, Deacon Blue, Macdonald and Frightened Rabbit played acoustic sets at the event in Edinburgh.

No tickets will be sold for the December events. Instead, members of the public and businesses can take part by reaching fundraising targets.

This year’s Edinburgh Sleepout will again take place i n Princes Street Gardens, while the Aberdeen event will be in Duthie Park.

The Glasgow Sleepout will take place at the bandstand in Kelvingrove Park.

The Big Sleepout is organised by Social Bite, a social enterprise founded by Josh Littlejohn and Alice Thompson.